Brick-machine



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. C. ANDERSON.

BRICK MAGHINE.

Patented Feb. 28, 1888.

N. PEYEflS, Phowum m. Washington, a. c

' (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. O. ANDERSON.

BRICK MACHINE.

Patented Feb. 28, 1888.

Evvew ilivrrn JAMES C. ANDERSON, OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS.

BRICK-MACHINE.

PECIPICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,538, dated February 28, 18:88. Application filed January 31, 1887. Serial l\'o. 226.004. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES C. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Highland Park, in the county of Lake, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for lhlanufacturing Ornamental Brick, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to certain improvements in machines for molding ornamental bricks, such as are used for the corners and moldings aboutthe reveals ofwindow and door- 1 jambs of buildings; and it has for its object to so construct the machine that bricks having a contour molding upon their corners may be enriched and embellished with various figuressuch as vines, fruits, or geometrical designs-and thatsuch brick may be molded and produced so as to be drawn from the mold 'without impairing the sharpness or configurated portion of the ornamented surface, as more fully hereinafter specified.

Heretoi'ore bricks having a contour molding to be used for like purposes could not be enriched or embellished on the corners thereof by the methods and mechanism as practiced, for the reason that the contour of the face edge of a brick is formed to embrace only the figure or contour of the inside of the die-box, and where raised or sunken ornaments were desired they had to be produced by the engraved figures upon the respective die-matrixes, the practice being to form such raised and sunken figures upon the flat side of the brick, and to lay such brick in the wall on their edge, so as to expose the ornamented side. Bricks have been made,however,molded upon their edge, and in isolated cases ornaments have been molded on an obtuse angle near the ends of the brick; but in all cases the brick was forced out of the die-box by the power actuated against the matrix, and all figures necessarily had to conform at right angles to the plane or face of the brick; otherwise they could not be removed from the matrix with out rupturing or tearing off the ornaments.

My invention would be analogous to formin g the ornament either by protuberances upon or indentations in that part of the die-box in which the molding operation of the brick is completed; and it will be seen that should such molding take place the ornaments so formed would bepocketedin the indentations, and in the operation ofthrusting the'coniplcted brick from the mold would be sheared off, and the bricks would appear after being ejected from the mold as though no such ornamenta' tion had taken place.

My invention is designed to obviate this; and it consists in arranging a separate matrix on one of the plungers at right angles with the face of the dieanatrix, and to so arrange the mechanism that any figure desired may be molded to conform to the angle of the contour of the corner, and the bricks readily discharged from the die-boxes and removed from the matrix without injury to the ornament, and the ornament so molded will be isometrically correct,so that when the individual bricks are crossed and properly bonded together the figures will register with each other.

In the accompanying drawings,Figurel represents a view, partly in vertical section and partly in elevation, showing the plunger and die arrangement for forming the brick. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of the same, taken on theline XX of Fig. 1, looking downward, as indicated by the arrows. Fig. 3 rep resents a side elevation of the plungers detached. Fig. 4 represents a transverse sectional view of a portion of the mold and a portion of the brick formed therein. Fig. 5 represents aside elevation showing two courses of the ornamental brick complete. Fig. 6represents a top view of the same. Fig. 7 represents the front elevation of a portion of a building, showing four courses of the ornamental bricks properly laid and bonded. in the wall.

The letter A indicates the body of the die box, which is composed of one or more rectau gular chambers, (two being shown in the present instance,) as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The said moldbox is provided with a vertical passage, 0, through which the prepared clay is fed to the molds. The moldbox is provided with a mold or molds proper at one side, as indicated by the letter D, in which the final compression of the brick is effected. v

The letters E and E indicate the plungers. The plungers E and E in this instance are bifurcated, so as to enter the die-box in forming the two bricks, as shownfand the matrixes proper for compressing the two flat sides of the brick are formed by the ends of these plungers. An extension, F, is formed as a part of the plunger E, projecting out from the face of the matrix of this plunger at right angles to the face of the matrix thereof. The use of this extension is to provide a matrix for forming the desired ornament for both the contour on the corner of the brick and the embellishment of its surface, as described. A recess, G, is formed out of the corresponding corner of the plunger E to admit the projection F to pass during the movement of the plungers.

The mold-box is firmly secured to the bed B, and the plungers E and E are secured to the cross-heads H of the machine for operating this die mechanism, which machine is not here shown, being in all respects the same as patented to me August 31, 1886, numbered 348,445. The operation of molding the brick is as follows: The plungers when in normal position have their intervening space immediately under the passage by which the prepared clay is supplied to the space of the mold-cavity. The plungers in moving travel simultaneously to the right, the plunger E in its passage cutting off the clay and movingit forward to the mold proper, where the clay is finally compressed into the form of the brick, after which the plunger travels until the space between the parts has cleared the right-hand end of the mold-box and the plunger Ehas withdrawn a suitable distance to remove the pressure from the completed brick, when the bricks thus discharged from the die-boxes may be readily removed from between the matrixes withoutinjury, and as thus formed will have the ornamental surface sharply defined, and the ornaments on the corners thereof will be in such relative position that when the bricks are laid in courses, as shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, they will make a continuous unbroken line of embellishments,which has hitherto been found impracticable to produce.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a machine for pressing ornamental brick, an ornamental portion attached to the plunger and forming a part of the walls of the mold when the brick is being pressed, and mechanism, substantially as described, for pressing the clay into form and ejecting the brick from the mold without injury to the ornament.

2. In a brick-machine of the character de scribed, the plungers E E, provided with the ornamented extensions I*, which project forward and form a portion of the wall of'the mold, as set forth. v

3. In a mechanism and molds for forming brick, the combination of the plungers E E and the plunger-extension F, and recess G, substantially as described.

4. In amechanism and molds for ornamental brick, the plunger E, having the projection F placed at right angles to the surface of the die-matrix, to be operated in conjunction with a plunger, E, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

J. O. ANDERSON. Witnesses:

CHARLES T. BROWN, J. G. CUSHMAN. 

